This post was written following my participation in the 2Actify Online course offered by the iJOBS program from July 17 to September 15, 2017 We have all been there: you’re attending iJOBS and (Alliance for Career Advancement) ACA events to learn about potential career options, you’re updating your resume and curriculum vitae to be ready for that first application, but then you suddenly hit a brick wall when you realize your LinkedIn profile hasn’t been updated since college (ack!!).

Dr. Evelyn Erenrich serves as the Associate Dean at the School of Graduate Studies and Director of the Center for Graduate Recruitment, Retention, and Diversity (GR²aD) at Rutgers University. In her capacity as Associate Dean, she is responsible for promoting diversity and inclusion at Rutgers the from undergraduate to faculty levels.

This post was written as a follow up to the iJOBS event on August 29 with Dr. Thomas Magaldi discussing career preparation for graduate students and postdocs. Dr. Magaldi led a very personable and informative discussion on August 29 at Rutgers Newark with current postdoc and graduate students regarding their career goals and how to prepare for the next step in our journey after graduate school. He took time to ask each individual person in the room what their plans were for the future and recommend pointed strategies for how to advance to the next stage.

That is the question. The million dollar question! While we may not soliloquize our internal debate like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we’ve all asked ourselves this question. Going to graduate school for a Ph.D. is not a decision to be made lightly. One must take several factors into account, both personal and professional, before embarking on the epic journey that is a graduate dissertation.

This was adapted from Cheeky Scientist’s webinar titled: Tailoring your resume for an industrial job. “A good resume is not enough to get a job, but a bad resume is enough to keep you from getting a job”. This was a quote that struck me as I was watching the webinar hosted by Cheeky Scientist’s Isaiah Hankel. During the hour-long webinar, I learned about tailoring one’s resume for a job in industry; a resume optimized for a non-academic career.

An article published back in September, in Science magazine, aims to answer the age-old question, “What do I need to know before starting my Ph.D.?” by asking current Ph.D. students. and postdocs what they wish they had known about graduate school when they started. Starting a Ph.D.

Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent among graduate students, yet they are easily overlooked. I recently read In this commentary, Shorr highlights how he unexpectedly learned that a significant number of graduate students are affected by mental health disorders and in particular, depression.

When I began my graduate journey, I wasn’t sure what my career objectives were, or how I would accomplish them. I quickly realized that it was ‘trendy’ to make assertions of how I was going to transition into industry, but that was the extent of my plan at this point. Furthermore, I thought the only possible route into industry for a Ph.D. was to be a post-doc or bench scientist for a small startup or large pharmaceutical company. Little did I know that this was just one option of many!

Me: “I’m not applying to the School of Pharmacy after I graduate. I have no idea what my plans are; I just really like research.” My mom: “WHAT?!?” The day I told my Puerto Rican parents that I was not pursuing my dream job, and that I was confused about my future career plans, I knew their hearts sank. They thought their only child was lost and this was not what they had envisioned for me. I started my B.S. in Chemistry with the intention of completing the required 80 credits to apply to the School of Pharmacy.

The following blog post was written after attending the iJOBS Career Panel: Product Development, Tech and Sales Support in Life Sciences Companies on October 3, 2017. Do you like communicating with other scientists about their projects? Do you enjoy being an expert in a particular method and explaining that method to non-experts? Do you enjoy meeting new people? Then boy, do I have a job for you! If you have overlooked sales and tech support as a job opportunity, you may be missing out on a rewarding, meaningful, fun, and interesting career choice.